Games Bioware all but dead as founders 'retire'

[cHodAX]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/18/bioware-founders-retire/

BioWare co-founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka collectively announced their retirement today from the studio they founded nearly 20 years ago, as well as from their positions at parent company Electronic Arts. Each is leaving the game industry altogether, with Muzyka heading into philanthropy, and Zeschuk into the world of craft brewing.

Several botch jobs and rushed projects, no wonder they have had enough of working under EA even if they can't say it.

 

[Punishment]

EA accountants and project managers claim another scalp for the trophy room

 

[Raven]

Well done EA, nice one.

Fucking scum, anyone who supports EA should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Shagrat]

dont care what you say, im still buying FIFA13..

so ner.

 

[Tuthmes]

I'm just waiting for them to screw up Simcity 5.

 

[BloodOmen]

Aye, shame... but then again surely its also Biowares fault for selling to EA in the first place? they should have known a corp like EA would swallow them up over time.

 

[Sar]

Yep, the Docs sold out to EA, likely in order to do mass market games to fluff up the pension fund before they "retired". Sad to see, because that leaves the likes of Casey "much speculation" Hudson in charge of things. I just find it "suspicious" that both retired at exactly the same time, after the DA2 debacle and the poor reception to the end of the ME series.

In other words, Bioware are a husk of the real company, and as such, are fucked.

 

[Aada]

Well done EA, nice one.

Fucking scum, anyone who supports EA should be ashamed of themselves.

Support EA? Not really I support the developers who make games such as Dead Space and the Battlefield series under EA.

Without EA a lot of studios that work for them wouldn't be able to survive in such a market right now.

Do not forget the little guys who work under them and think next time before you spout such nonesense.

In a perfect world I am sure a lot of studios under EA would gladly leave them and be working for themselves.

 

[Raven]

You mean the little guys who previously worked for decent, original devs creating quality games who then got swallowed up by EA and made to churn out idiotic yearly updates to please the console kids?

 

[Aada]

The point is you wouldn't have the games that are out right now if those developers didn't go with EA they would have closed down a long time ago.

You need to realise that it is finanical suicide for ANY developer to go it alone and make games that require them to possibly start taking huge loans out to cover the wages and everything else that they would have to pay.

Battlefield,Mass Effect,Dragon Age,Dead Space are all franchises that require a huge amount of time to develop these are not games that are knocked up in the shed of some grubby guys mums garden in 2 months time.

EA is also the most likely publisher to give the green light to new ideas and new franchises so actually EA isn't as bad as you make out in my opinion.

The console debate is another story but at the and of the day EA are a business and they need to make money to make these games millions of people play.

Yes they churn out sequels and way past sequels but generally the developers under them make pretty good games.

Now compare EA to Activision and EA are angels compared to them.

 

[Scouse]

The point is you wouldn't have the games that are out right now if those developers didn't go with EA they would have closed down a long time ago.

Rubbish.

When a large corporation buys a small business it's because they think they have something valuable and very marketable.

For example, when EA bought DICE they knew that the Battlefield series of games was a phenomenal intellectual property.

Now they're rushed out the door and buggy as fuck. I've bought loads of them but no more - I don't give a fuck how good they look or how well they play - I've long since refused to buy EA owned games because EA's business practices have, for over a decade, been dispicable.

EA don't give a fuck about their customers and they've shown it repeatedly.

 

[Draylor]

Well guess who signed up to stay for 5 years after the EA buyout in exchange for a fat cheque then?

We're 2 weeks short of it being 5 years since the deal was announced - too much of a coincidence.

Other than that its just the history repeating itself. EA buy studio, rushes out buggy/unfinished games, renames/merges studio and, ultimately, shuts it down.

 

[DaGaffer]

People don't half talk shite on here. EA don't go around forcing devs to work for them at gunpoint. They get big piles of cash for "selling out" and for most devs, getting bought by a major is part of their exit strategy in the first place. In case you haven't noticed, both are "retiring" in their early 40s. Poor guys. No, that's not the word is it? Poor, rich guys. I'm sick of hearing fanboi wank about plucky developers being abused by massive corporations. Its bollocks.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Lot of EA fault flinging, when it's not quite like that in the game development.

You don't make a crap game, or force yur company out the door, just because someone is -always- paying your bills, you make better games.

There is always, -always-, a problem with the developer too if they fail.

Those guys? *waves finger at leavers* They just want to quit the industry.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Origin. 'Nuff said.

 

[Gwadien]

You can't even blame EA for making 'console games for console kids' they make money out of it, it makes complete and utter sense, you have to teach these console kids that they're playing the same thing with a different title otherwise they'll just keep lapping it up.. Consoles make up for a direct sale of every game, whereas if you make a game for PC, so many will torrent it, and sell it cheaper etc through the likes of Steam, so it doesn't make sense as a business.

 

[Raven]

People don't half talk shite on here. EA don't go around forcing devs to work for them at gunpoint. They get big piles of cash for "selling out" and for most devs, getting bought by a major is part of their exit strategy in the first place. In case you haven't noticed, both are "retiring" in their early 40s. Poor guys. No, that's not the word is it? Poor, rich guys. I'm sick of hearing fanboi wank about plucky developers being abused by massive corporations. Its bollocks.

That's not the point. EA see an IP and decide they can milk it on the cheap, how many decent development houses have gone to shit after being bought by EA? Westwood, Dice, Bioware, Bullfrog etc

I don't blame the owners for selling up after getting a good offer, anyone would. I do however blame EA for actively crushing any creativity in the industry and instead taking a good idea, destroying it and then selling it to mouth breathing morons, who seem happy to lap it up.

Bioware have had their guts ripped out by EA and now turn out cheap, annual, formulaic RPGs for the ADHD masses.

 

[Raven]

You can't even blame EA for making 'console games for console kids' they make money out of it, it makes complete and utter sense, you have to teach these console kids that they're playing the same thing with a different title otherwise they'll just keep lapping it up.. Consoles make up for a direct sale of every game, whereas if you make a game for PC, so many will torrent it, and sell it cheaper etc through the likes of Steam, so it doesn't make sense as a business.

Selling through steam (or any other online distributor) is better business sense for the publisher because the distribution costs and other middle man costs are virtually nothing. Yes Valve take a cut of the sale but nothing near to the extra costs that have to be absorbed selling a boxed game.

 

[DaGaffer]

That's not the point. EA see an IP and decide they can milk it on the cheap, how many decent development houses have gone to shit after being bought by EA? Westwood, Dice, Bioware, Bullfrog etc

I don't blame the owners for selling up after getting a good offer, anyone would. I do however blame EA for actively crushing any creativity in the industry and instead taking a good idea, destroying it and then selling it to mouth breathing morons, who seem happy to lap it up.

Bioware have had their guts ripped out by EA and now turn out cheap, annual, formulaic RPGs for the ADHD masses.

First of all, "milk it on the cheap"? I'd dispute that. DICE for example have had huge amounts of investment from EA; far, far more than when they were independent.

Second - "taking a good idea, destroying it and then selling it to mouth breathing morons, who seem happy to lap it up." There's your problem. EA are doing what companies do, satisfying a market. If that market is populated by idiots, you can't blame EA for that.

What this actually comes down to is actually an industry-wide malaise (and by "industry" I mean entertainment, not just games) caused by massive uncertainty in the market about the future of formats and distribution, tied in to general economic fears. So you end up with movies awash with "safe" sequels and remakes (discussed elsewhere on here) and games following the same formula. Bioware would have fared no better under an Activision or a UbiSoft. Everyone's dumbing down and playing the safe bet at the moment.

 

[Gwadien]

Selling through steam (or any other online distributor) is better business sense for the publisher because the distribution costs and other middle man costs are virtually nothing. Yes Valve take a cut of the sale but nothing near to the extra costs that have to be absorbed selling a boxed game.

Hence why they brought out Origin?

 

[BloodOmen]

Origin is shit, it gives your computer nerd-aids and attracts wild Tohtori's to appear.

 

[Gwadien]

I don't see why everyone hates Origin, it's pretty much Steam with a EA label on it instead They sell games, that's what steam is for? :S

Mind you, the only reason I use it is for BF3.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Well....now...i would never touch origin, but i do welcome the competition with steam. Usually two systems fighting for same playerbase only results in good things for the paying customer

 

[Aada]

That's not the point. EA see an IP and decide they can milk it on the cheap, how many decent development houses have gone to shit after being bought by EA? Westwood, Dice, Bioware, Bullfrog etc

I don't blame the owners for selling up after getting a good offer, anyone would. I do however blame EA for actively crushing any creativity in the industry and instead taking a good idea, destroying it and then selling it to mouth breathing morons, who seem happy to lap it up.

Bioware have had their guts ripped out by EA and now turn out cheap, annual, formulaic RPGs for the ADHD masses.

If every publisher only published games for a niche market they wouldn't last 2 years your business sense is absolute fail.

 

[Raven]

If every publisher only published games for a niche market they wouldn't last 2 years your business sense is absolute fail.

Yeah the command and conquer series, the Neverwinter series and related RPGs were really niche weren't they?

Oh, you disagreed with me that selling through an online download distributor is cheaper than selling boxes through a shop, care to explain why? You mentioned business sense fail too. oh the ironing.

Most developers and publishers are aiming for online distribution in the future for a reason, increased profits and easier distribution. The days of having to use disk media are coming to an end.

You seem to be getting quite angry though, I am confused as to why? How old are you?

 

[Raven]

I don't see why everyone hates Origin, it's pretty much Steam with a EA label on it instead They sell games, that's what steam is for? :S

Mind you, the only reason I use it is for BF3.

It's a terrible piece of software, a real step backwards. I have no problem with the idea of Origin, it would be nice to have some competition for steam but it's just gash.

 

[Gwadien]

Doesn't matter though does it? - You're forced to play Battlefield 3 through it, and alot of people have OCD tendencies and like to have games in the same place, whack a couple of sales on, hey presto, loads of people buying directly from Origin In all honestly, I think Origin just may have saved EAs interest in the PC market.

 

[Hawkwind]

These guys sold the company to EA knowing exactly what would happen. They took the money, served out the terms of their contracts and sailed off into the sunset with shed loads of money.

Being in the business, they knew what EA were like but still sold out to them, greed wins every time!

 

[Raven]

Doesn't matter though does it? - You're forced to play Battlefield 3 through it, and alot of people have OCD tendencies and like to have games in the same place, whack a couple of sales on, hey presto, loads of people buying directly from Origin In all honestly, I think Origin just may have saved EAs interest in the PC market.

The difference between Steam and Origin is that steam offers indi games and bucket loads of special offers, whereas Origin just sells EA dross at full boxed retail cost. The interface is crap too.

It's also not just a case of having games in one place, it's being able to just download an old game that you bought a few years ago without having to search through boxes of crap to find the archaic CD/DVD, then install it, then download umpteen patches for it, then jump through all the DLC hoops. I am frankly amazed anyone bothers with disk media these days, it is just such a waste of time.

 

[DaGaffer]

The difference between Steam and Origin ...stuff

The difference between Steam and Origin is time. Valve have had nine years to build Steam, Origin came out a year ago. Don't for one second think Gabe Newell is a fluffy bunny who wubs you all. Valve would sell your granny just as readily as EA. And for the record, Steam is fucking expensive in EU territories.